Editing Billy Wilder

{{Short description|American filmmaker (1906–2002)}}
{{distinguish|William Wyler|William Wilder}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Billy Wilder
| image              = Billy Wilder.jpg
| caption            = Wilder, {{circa|1942}}
| birth_name         = Samuel Wilder
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1906|6|22}}
| birth_place        = [[Sucha Beskidzka|Sucha]], [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]], Austria-Hungary
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2002|3|27|1906|6|22}}
| death_place        = [[Beverly Hills, California]], U.S.
| occupation         = {{hlist|Film director|screenwriter|producer}}
| years_active       = 1929–1981
| works              = [[Billy Wilder filmography|Full list]]
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Judith Coppicus|1936|1946|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Audrey Young]]|1949}}
}}
| children           = 2
| relatives          = [[W. Lee Wilder]] (brother)<br/> [[Myles Wilder]] (nephew)<br/> [[Patrick Curtis (producer)|Patrick Curtis]] (nephew)
| awards             = [[List of awards and nominations received by Billy Wilder|Full list]]
}}

'''Billy Wilder''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|aɪ|l|d|ər}}; {{IPA|de|ˈvɪldɐ|lang}}; born '''Samuel Wilder'''; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of [[Classic Hollywood cinema]]. He received seven [[Academy Awards]] (among 21 nominations), a [[BAFTA Award]], the [[Cannes Film Festival]]'s [[Palme d'Or]] and two [[Golden Globe Awards]].

Wilder was born in [[Sucha Beskidzka]], Poland, a town in Austria-Hungary at the time of his birth.<ref name='"Polish Town Goes Wild Over Wilder"'/> After moving to [[Berlin]] in his early adulthood, Wilder became a screenwriter. The rise of the [[Nazi Party]] and [[antisemitism]] in Germany saw him move to Paris. He then moved to Hollywood in 1934, and had a major hit when he, [[Charles Brackett]] and [[Walter Reisch]] wrote the screenplay for the [[Academy Award]]-nominated film ''[[Ninotchka]]'' (1939). Wilder established his directorial reputation and received his first nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Director]] with the [[film noir]] ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' (1944), based on [[Double Indemnity (novel)|the novel]] by [[James M. Cain]] with a screenplay by Wilder and [[Raymond Chandler]]. Wilder won the [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay]] Academy Awards for ''[[The Lost Weekend]]'' (1945), which also won the [[Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1945 {{!}} Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1945/T |access-date=February 10, 2023 |website=www.oscars.org}}</ref>

In the 1950s, Wilder directed and co-wrote a string of critically acclaimed films, including the Hollywood-set drama ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'' (1950), for which he won his second screenplay Academy Award; ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]'' (1951), ''[[Stalag 17]]'' (1953) and ''[[Sabrina (1954 film)|Sabrina]]'' (1954).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sunset Blvd. |url=https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/sunset-blvd-feadf4f6-25a7-6a02-6554-f2ecf72af2de |access-date=February 10, 2023 |website=Academy Museum of Motion Pictures – Timeline}}</ref> Wilder directed and co-wrote three films in 1957: ''[[The Spirit of St. Louis (film)|The Spirit of St. Louis]]'', ''[[Love in the Afternoon (1957 film)|Love in the Afternoon]]'' and ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film)|Witness for the Prosecution]]''. During this period, Wilder also directed [[Marilyn Monroe]] in two films, ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]'' (1955) and ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'' (1959).<ref name="DavidCookhis">{{cite book|author=Cook, David A. |title=A History of Narrative Film |edition=4th |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=2004|isbn=0-393-97868-0}}</ref> In 1960, Wilder co-wrote, directed and produced the critically acclaimed film ''[[The Apartment]]''. It won Wilder Academy Awards for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], Best Director and [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 27, 2014 |title=The 33rd Academy Awards Memorable Moments {{!}} Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscar/ceremonies/1961/memorable-moments |access-date=February 10, 2023 |website=www.oscars.org}}</ref>
Other notable films Wilder directed include ''[[One, Two, Three]]'' (1961), ''[[Irma la Douce]]'' (1963), ''[[Kiss Me, Stupid]]'' (1964), ''[[The Fortune Cookie]]'' (1966) and ''[[Avanti!]]'' (1972).

Wilder received various honors over his career, including the [[AFI Life Achievement Award]] in 1986, the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] in 1990, the [[National Medal of Arts]] in 1993 and the [[BAFTA Fellowship|BAFTA Fellowship Award]] in 1995. He also received the [[Directors Guild of America]]'s Lifetime Achievement Award, the [[Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement]] and the [[Producers Guild of America]]'s Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>* {{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2014/10/steve-martin-afi-life-achievement-award-american-film-institute-845390/|publisher=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|last=Hammond|first=Pete|date=October 3, 2014|access-date=November 28, 2019|title=Steve Martin To Receive AFI Life Achievement Award|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128130306/https://deadline.com/2014/10/steve-martin-afi-life-achievement-award-american-film-institute-845390/|archive-date=November 28, 2019|url-status=live}}
* {{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/feb/17/film.filmnews|work=[[The Observer]]|date=February 17, 2002|access-date=November 28, 2019|title=Bafta gives its top honour to Merchant Ivory|last=Thorpe|first=Vanessa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128130305/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/feb/17/film.filmnews|archive-date=November 28, 2019|url-status=live}}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.dga.org/News/PressReleases/2000/0131-Steven-Spielberg-to-Receive-Lifetime-Achievement-Award-DGAs-Highest-Honor.aspx|title=Steven Spielberg to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award, DGA's Highest Honor|publisher=[[Directors Guild of America]]|date=January 31, 2000|access-date=November 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128130305/https://www.dga.org/News/PressReleases/2000/0131-Steven-Spielberg-to-Receive-Lifetime-Achievement-Award-DGAs-Highest-Honor.aspx|archive-date=November 28, 2019|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://dga.org/index2.php3 |title=Directors Guild of America |access-date=November 2, 2016 |archive-date=November 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120181108/http://dga.org/index2.php3 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2007/feb/28/myoscarnightwithcher|work=The Guardian|title=My Oscar night with Cher|last=White|first=Michael|date=February 28, 2007|access-date=November 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128130303/https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2007/feb/28/myoscarnightwithcher|archive-date=November 28, 2019|url-status=live}}
* {{cite web|url=https://awards.wga.org/awards/awards-recipients/laurel-awards/screen-laurel-previous-recipients|title=The Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement|publisher=[[Writers Guild of America Awards]]|access-date=November 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223184612/https://awards.wga.org/awards/awards-recipients/laurel-awards/screen-laurel-previous-recipients|archive-date=February 23, 2019|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1523 |title=Writers Guild of America, west – Laurel Award Recipients |access-date=May 26, 2010 |archive-date=December 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121228111048/http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1523 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2006/biz/awards/pga-sets-selznick-laurel-1117954246/|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=November 19, 2006|access-date=November 28, 2019|title=PGA sets Selznick laurel|last=McNary|first=Dave|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128130304/https://variety.com/2006/biz/awards/pga-sets-selznick-laurel-1117954246/|archive-date=November 28, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Seven of his films are preserved in the United States [[National Film Registry]] of the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

==Early life==
Samuel Wilder ({{Langx|yi|שמואל װילדער}} ''Shmuel Vilder''<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=575257|title=הם היו כל-כך יהודים, הם היו כל-כך אמריקנים|date=April 4, 2002|newspaper=Globes}}</ref>) was born on June 22, 1906,<ref>{{cite web |title=Billy Wilder Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/people/billy-wilder-9531169 |work=[[Biography.com]] |date=2015 |access-date=May 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509061912/http://www.biography.com/people/billy-wilder-9531169 |archive-date=May 9, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> to a [[Jewish]] family<ref name="Sikov">{{Cite book |last=Sikov |first=Ed |title=On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/sikov-sunset.html |date=1998 |pages=3–17 |publisher=Hyperion |location=New York |isbn=0786861940 |author-link=Ed Sikov}}</ref> in [[Sucha Beskidzka|Sucha]],<ref name='"Polish Town Goes Wild Over Wilder"'>{{cite web |last1=Murphy |first1=Dean E. |title=Polish Town Goes Wild Over Wilder|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-26-ca-8459-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 26, 1996 |access-date=July 13, 2020}}</ref> a small town in Galicia, present-day Poland, then part of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]]. Years later in Hollywood, he would describe it as being "Half an hour from Vienna. By telegraph."<ref>Brackett, Charles, It's the Pictures That Got Small, Columbia University Press, 2015, pg.87</ref> His parents were Eugenia (''née'' Dittler), from [[Zakopane]], and Max Wilder, from [[Stanislawczyk]]; they met in [[Kraków]] where Billy spent his early years.<ref name="Sikov"/> His mother described him as a "rambunctious kid"; inspired by [[Buffalo Bill|Buffalo Bill's]] [[Wild West shows|Wild West Shows]], which she saw while living briefly in New York, she nicknamed him "Billie", which he changed to "Billy" upon moving to America.<ref name=Hamrah_AS>{{cite magazine |last=Hamrah |first= A.S. |date=March–May 2022 |title=Some Like It Fraught- How Billy Wilder survived the twentieth century |url=https://www.bookforum.com/print/2901/how-billy-wilder-survived-the-twentieth-century-24829 |magazine=Bookforum |location=New York|publisher=Bookforum Magazine |access-date=March 15, 2022}}</ref>

Wilder's elder brother, [[W. Lee Wilder]], was also a filmmaker. His parents had a successful cake shop in Sucha's train station that flourished into a chain of railroad cafes. Eugenia and Max Wilder did not persuade their son to join the family business. Max moved to Kraków to manage a hotel before moving to Vienna and dying when Billy was 22 years old.<ref name=Hamrah_AS/> After the family moved to Vienna, Wilder became a journalist instead of attending the [[University of Vienna]]. In 1926, jazz band leader [[Paul Whiteman]] was on tour in Vienna where he was interviewed by Wilder.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/29/us/billy-wilder-master-of-caustic-films-dies-at-95.html|title=Billy Wilder, Master of Caustic Films, Dies at 95|last=Harmetz|first=Aljean|date=March 29, 2002|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 4, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Whiteman liked young Wilder enough that he took him with the band to [[Berlin]], where Wilder was able to make more connections in entertainment.

Before achieving success as a writer, he was a [[taxi dancer]] in Berlin.<ref>Philips, Alastair. ''City of Darkness, City of Light: Emigre Filmmakers in Paris, 1929–1939.'' Amsterdam University Press, 2004. p. 190.</ref><ref>Silvester, Christopher. ''The Grove Book of Hollywood.'' Grove Press, 2002. p. 311</ref>

==Career==
===Early work===
[[File:Douglas-Ninotchka.jpg|right|thumb|175px|[[Greta Garbo]] and [[Melvyn Douglas]] in ''[[Ninotchka]]'']]
After writing crime and sports stories as a [[Stringer (journalism)|stringer]] for local newspapers, he was eventually offered a regular job at a Berlin [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]]. Developing an interest in film, he began working as a screenwriter. From 1929 to 1933, he produced twelve German films. He collaborated with several other novices ([[Fred Zinnemann]] and [[Robert Siodmak]]) on the 1930 film ''[[Menschen am Sonntag|People on Sunday]]''. Eschewing the [[German Expressionism (cinema)|German Expressionist]] styles of [[F. W. Murnau]] and [[Fritz Lang]], ''People on Sunday'' was considered as a groundbreaking example of the [[Neue Sachlichkeit]] or [[New Objectivity]] movement in German cinema. Furthermore, this genre of Strassenfilm ("street film") paved way to the birth of [[Italian neorealism]] and the [[French New Wave]].<ref name="Hamrah_AS" /> He wrote the screenplay for the 1931 film adaptation of a novel by [[Erich Kästner]], ''[[Emil and the Detectives (1931 film)|Emil and the Detectives]]'', also screenplays for the comedy ''[[The Man in Search of His Murderer]]'' (1931), the operetta ''[[Her Grace Commands]]'' (1931) and the comedy ''[[A Blonde Dream]]'' (1932), all of them produced in the [[Babelsberg Studio]]s in [[Potsdam]] near Berlin.<ref name="100 Facts about Babelsberg">{{cite book|author=Stielke, Sebastian|title=100 Facts about Babelsberg – Cradle of movie and modern media city|publisher=bebra Verlag|year=2021|isbn=978-3-86124-746-3}}</ref> In 1932, Wilder collaborated with the writer and journalist Felix Salten on the screenplay for "Scampolo".<ref>Jacques Le Rider, "Les Juifs viennois á la Belle Époque," Paris: Albin Michel, 2013, p. 194</ref> After [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power]], Wilder went to Paris, where he made his directorial debut film ''[[Mauvaise Graine]]'' (1934). He relocated to Hollywood prior to its release.{{Citation needed|date=June 2013}} Wilder's mother, grandmother and stepfather were all victims of the [[Holocaust]]. For decades it was assumed that it happened at [[Auschwitz Concentration Camp]], but, while researching Polish and Israeli archives, his Austrian biographer Andreas Hutter discovered in 2011 that they were murdered in different locations: his mother, Eugenia "Gitla" Siedlisker, in 1943 at [[Plaszow concentration camp|Plaszow]]; his stepfather, Bernard "Berl" Siedlisker, in 1942 at [[Belzec concentration camp|Belzec]]; and his grandmother, Balbina Baldinger, died in 1943 in the ghetto in [[Nowy Targ]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/feuilleton/film/gitla-stand-nicht-auf-schindlers-liste-1.12844017|title=Gitla stand nicht auf Schindlers Liste|author=Andreas Hutter and Heinz Peters|newspaper=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |date=October 6, 2011|publisher=[[Neue Zuercher Zeitung]]|language=de}}</ref>

After arriving in Hollywood in 1934, Wilder continued working as a screenwriter. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1939, having spent time in Mexico waiting for the government after his six-month card expired in 1934, an episode reflected in his 1941 ''[[Hold Back the Dawn]]''.<ref name="Armstrong2004">{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Armstrong |title=Billy Wilder, American Film Realist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYuACgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |date=2004 |page=9 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-0-7864-2119-0}}</ref> Wilder's first significant success was ''[[Ninotchka]]'', a collaboration with fellow German immigrant [[Ernst Lubitsch]]. The [[romantic comedy]] starred [[Greta Garbo]] (generally known as a [[tragedy|tragic]] heroine in film [[melodrama]]s), and was popularly and critically acclaimed. With the byline "Garbo Laughs!", it also took Garbo's career in a new direction. The film marked Wilder's first Academy Award nomination, which he shared with co-writer [[Charles Brackett]] (although their collaboration on ''[[Bluebeard's Eighth Wife]]'' and ''[[Midnight (1939 film)|Midnight]]'' had been well received). Wilder co-wrote many of his films with Brackett from 1938 to 1950. Brackett described their collaboration process: "The thing to do was suggest an idea, have it torn apart and despised. In a few days it would be apt to turn up, slightly changed, as Wilder's idea. Once I got adjusted to that way of working, our lives were simpler."<ref>Brackett, Charles, It's the Pictures That Got Small, Columbia University Press, 2015, pg. 92</ref>

=== 1940s ===
[[File:Double-Indemnity-LIFE-1944-2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Fred MacMurray]] and [[Barbara Stanwyck]] in ''Double Indemnity'']]
Wilder continued his screenwriting career with a series of box office hits in the early 1940s, including the romantic drama ''[[Hold Back the Dawn]]'' and the screwball comedy ''[[Ball of Fire]]''. Both films earned him nominations for the 1941 Academy Awards in the categories of [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]] and [[Academy Award for Best Story|Best Story]] respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1942 |title=The 14th Academy Awards |date=October 3, 2014 |access-date=December 31, 2024 |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref> Wilder made his Hollywood directorial debut in 1942 with ''[[The Major and the Minor]]'', a comedy starring [[Ginger Rogers]] and [[Ray Milland]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE1DE1339E33BBC4F52DFBF668389659EDE |title=The Screen; ' The Major and the Minor,' a Charming Comedy-Romance, With Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland, at the Paramount |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 17, 1942 |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |author-link=Bosley Crowther |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425122545/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE1DE1339E33BBC4F52DFBF668389659EDE |archive-date=April 25, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

His third Hollywood film as director, the [[film noir]] ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' (1944), starring [[Fred MacMurray]], [[Barbara Stanwyck]] and [[Edward G. Robinson]], was a major hit. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Actress; Wilder co-wrote it with [[Raymond Chandler]]. The film not only set conventions for the noir genre (such as "venetian blind" lighting and voice-over narration), but is a landmark in the battle against Hollywood censorship. Based on [[James M. Cain]]'s novel, it featured two love triangles and a murder plotted for insurance money. While the book was popular with the reading public, it had been considered unfilmable under the [[Hays Code]] because adultery was central to the plot.

In 1945, the [[Psychological Warfare Department]] of the United States Department of War produced an American documentary film directed by Wilder. The film known as ''[[Death Mills]]'', or [[:de:Die Todesmühlen|''Die Todesmühlen'']], was intended for German audiences to educate them about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. For the German version, ''Die Todesmühlen'', [[Hanuš Burger]] is credited as the writer and director, while Wilder supervised the editing. Wilder is credited with the English-language version.

Two years later, Wilder adapted from [[Charles R. Jackson]]'s novel [[The Lost Weekend (novel)|''The Lost Weekend'']] into [[The Lost Weekend (film)|a film of the same name]]. It was the first major American film with a serious examination of alcoholism, another difficult theme under the [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]]. It follows an alcoholic writer ([[Ray Milland]]) opposing the protestations of his girlfriend ([[Jane Wyman]]). The film earned critical acclaim after it premiered at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] and competed in the main competition, where it received the Festival's top prize, the [[Palme d'Or]], and four Academy Awards including for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]. Wilder earned the Oscars for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay]] and Milland won [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]. The film is one of four to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d' Or, alongside ''[[Marty (film)|Marty]]'', ''[[Parasite (2019 film)|Parasite]]'' and ''[[Anora]]''.

=== 1950s ===
[[File:Gloria Swanson & Billy Wilder - ca. 1950.JPG|thumb|175px|right|[[Gloria Swanson]] with Wilder on the set of ''Sunset Boulevard'']]
In 1950, Wilder co-wrote and directed the cynical noir film ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]''. It follows a reclusive silent film actress ([[Gloria Swanson]]), who dreams of a comeback with delusions of her greatness from a bygone era. She accompanies an aspiring screenwriter ([[William Holden]]), who becomes her [[gigolo]] partner. This critically acclaimed film was the final film Wilder collaborated with Brackett. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards; together Wilder and Brackett won the [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay]].

In 1951, Wilder directed ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]'' (a.k.a. ''The Big Carnival'') starring [[Kirk Douglas]] in a tale of media exploitation of a caving accident. The idea had been pitched over the phone to Wilder's secretary by [[Victor Desny]]. Desny sued Wilder for breach of an implied contract in the California copyright case ''Wilder v Desny'', ultimately receiving a settlement of $14,350.<ref>46 Cal.2d 715, 299 P.2d 257, CAL. 1956.</ref><ref>Sikov, Ed. ''On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder'', Hyperion Press, 1998, p. 328</ref> Although a critical and commercial failure at the time, its reputation has grown over the years. The following year, Wilder announced plans to direct and produce a film version of the [[Sophocles]] [[tragedy]] ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'', adapted for the screen by [[Walter Reisch]]. They planned to shoot the film on location in [[Greece]] in [[Technicolor]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Pryor|first=Thomas M.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/09/05/archives/billy-wilder-lists-oedipus-rex-film-plans-to-produce-technicolor.html|title=BILLY WILDER LISTS 'OEDIPUS REX' FILM; Plans to Produce Technicolor Version of Sophocles Tragedy in Greek Locale Next Year|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 5, 1952|access-date=June 13, 2024}}</ref> but it never went into production.

Subsequently, Wilder directed three adaptations of Broadway plays, war drama ''[[Stalag 17]]'', for which William Holden won the Best Actor Academy Award, romantic comedy ''[[Sabrina (1954 film)|Sabrina]]'', for which [[Audrey Hepburn]] was nominated for Best Actress, and romantic comedy ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]'', which features the iconic image of [[Marilyn Monroe]] standing on a subway grate as her white dress is blown upwards by a passing train. Wilder was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the first two films and shared a nomination for Best Screenplay for the second. He was interested in doing a film with one of the classic slapstick comedy acts of the Hollywood Golden Age. He first considered, and rejected, a project to star [[Laurel and Hardy]]. He held discussions with [[Groucho Marx]] concerning a new [[Marx Brothers]] comedy, tentatively titled ''A Day at the U.N''. The project was abandoned after [[Chico Marx]] died in 1961.<ref name="Gore">Gore, Chris (1999). ''The Fifty Greatest Movies Never Made'', New York: St. Martin's Griffin</ref>

In 1957, three films Wilder directed were released: [[biopic]] ''[[The Spirit of St. Louis (film)|The Spirit of St. Louis]]'', starring [[James Stewart]] as [[Charles Lindbergh]], romantic comedy ''[[Love in the Afternoon (1957 film)|Love in the Afternoon]]''—Wilder's first screenplay with [[I. A. L. Diamond]], who would become his regular partner—featuring [[Gary Cooper]], [[Maurice Chevalier]] and Audrey Hepburn, and courtroom drama ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film)|Witness for the Prosecution]]'', featuring [[Tyrone Power]], [[Marlene Dietrich]] and [[Charles Laughton]]. Wilder received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for the last film.

[[File:Some like it hot film poster.jpg|thumb|left|Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe in ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'']]
In 1959, Wilder reunited with Monroe in the United Artists released Prohibition-era farce film ''[[Some Like It Hot]]''. It was released, however, without a [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]] seal of approval, which was withheld due to the film's unabashed sexual comedy, including a central cross-dressing theme. [[Jack Lemmon]] and [[Tony Curtis]] played musicians disguised as women to escape pursuit by a Chicago gang. Curtis's character courts a singer (Monroe), while Lemmon is wooed by [[Joe E. Brown (comedian)|Joe E. Brown]]{{snd}}setting up the film's final joke in which Lemmon reveals that his character is a man and Brown blandly replies "Well, nobody's perfect". A box office success, the film was lightly regarded by film critics during its original release, although it did receive six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Director and Best Screenplay. But its critical reputation grew prodigiously; in 2000, the [[American Film Institute]] selected it as the best American comedy ever made.<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time |url=http://www.afi.com/100Years/laughs.aspx |work=[[American Film Institute]] |date=2000 |access-date=June 6, 2016}}</ref> In 2012, the [[British Film Institute]] decennial ''[[Sight and Sound]]'' poll of the world's film critics rated it as the 43rd best movie ever made, and the second-highest-ranking comedy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critics' top 100 |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207035347/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 7, 2016 |work=[[British Film Institute]] |date=2012 |access-date=June 6, 2016}}–</ref>

=== 1960s ===
[[File:The apartment trailer 1.JPG|thumb|right|Lemmon and [[Shirley MacLaine]] in ''The Apartment'']]
In 1960, Wilder directed the comedy romance film ''[[The Apartment]]''. It follows an insurance clerk (Lemmon), who allows his coworkers to use his apartment to conduct extramarital affairs until he meets an elevator woman ([[Shirley MacLaine]]). The film was a critical success with ''[[The New York Times]]'' film critic [[Bosley Crowther]], who called the film "gleeful, tender, and even sentimental" and Wilder's direction "ingenious".<ref name="Crowther">{{cite news|last1=Crowther|first1=Bosley|title=Busy 'Apartment':Jack Lemmon Scores in Billy Wilder Film|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C01EFD91638EF32A25755C1A9609C946191D6CF&mcubz=0|access-date=September 2, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=June 16, 1960}}</ref> The film received ten [[Academy Awards]] nominations and won five awards, including three for Wilder: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Wilder directed the [[Cold War]] political farce film ''[[One, Two, Three]]'' (1961), starring [[James Cagney]], which won critical praise with ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' writing, "Billy Wilder's ''One, Two, Three'' is a fast-paced, high-pitched, hard-hitting, lighthearted farce crammed with topical gags and spiced with satirical overtones. Story is so furiously quick-witted that some of its wit gets snarled and smothered in overlap."<ref>[https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793729.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 ''Variety'']. Film review, 1961. Last accessed: January 31, 2008.</ref> It was followed by the romantic comedy ''[[Irma la Douce]]'' (1963) starring Lemmon and MacLaine. The film was the [[1963 in film|fifth highest-grossing film]] of the year. Wilder received a [[Writers Guild of America Award]] nomination for his screenplay. Wilder then wrote and directed the sex comedy film ''[[Kiss Me, Stupid]]'' starring [[Dean Martin]], [[Kim Novak]], and [[Ray Walston]], who was a last minute replacement for ailing [[Peter Sellers]]. The film was criticized by some critics for vulgarity, with [[Bosley Crowther]] blaming the film for giving American movies the reputation of "deliberate and degenerate corruptors of public taste and morals".<ref name="McNally2010">{{cite book|last=McNally|first=Karen|title=Billy Wilder, Movie-Maker: Critical Essays on the Films|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAOzV2hJri8C&pg=PA136|date=December 16, 2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-8520-8|page=136}}</ref> A. H. Weiler of the ''[[New York Times]]'' called the film "pitifully unfunny". Wilder gained his final [[Academy Award]] nomination and a [[Writers Guild of America Award]] nomination for the screenplay of ''[[The Fortune Cookie]]'', which he co-produced through his independent film company, Phalanx Productions. It was the first film pairing Jack Lemmon with [[Walter Matthau]]. The film was titled ''Meet Whiplash Willie'' in the United Kingdom. In 1970, he directed ''[[The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes]]'', also made through Phalanx Productions, which was intended as a major [[roadshow theatrical release]], but to Wilder's dismay was heavily cut by the studio.<ref>{{cite news |title=Detective Work |author=Jonathan Coe |author-link=Jonathan Coe |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=30 April 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/apr/30/jonathancoe.arthurconandoyle|access-date=12 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23513 |access-date=September 18, 2024 |website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]}}</ref>

=== Final films ===
He produced and directed the comedy film ''[[Avanti!]]'', again through Phalanx Productions, which follows a businessman (Lemmon) attempting to retrieve the body of his deceased father from Italy. Wilder received two [[Golden Globe Award]] nominations for [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]], and a [[Writers Guild of America Award]] nomination. Wilder directed ''[[The Front Page (1974 film)|The Front Page]]'' based on the [[The Front Page|Broadway play]] of the same name. It was a significant financial success with low budget. His final films, ''[[Fedora (1978 film)|Fedora]]'' and ''[[Buddy Buddy]]'', failed to impress critics or the public, although ''Fedora'' has since been re-evaluated and is now considered favorably.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fedora (1978) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1037238-fedora |website=Rotten Tomatoes |date=May 26, 2009 |access-date=November 21, 2020}}</ref> Wilder had hoped to make [[Thomas Keneally]]'s ''[[Schindler's Ark]]'' as his final film, saying "I wanted to do it as a kind of memorial to my mother and my grandmother and my stepfather," who had all been murdered in the [[Holocaust]].<ref name="Crowe1999">{{cite book|author=Cameron Crowe|title=Conversations with Wilder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYRZAAAAMAAJ&q=schindler|date= 2020|publisher=Knopf|isbn=978-0375406607|pages=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/spielbergs-list-20130402-2h455.html|title=Spielberg's List|first=Oscar|last=Hillestrom|date=April 2, 2013|website=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref> He praised [[Steven Spielberg|Steven Spielberg's]] adaptation, ''[[Schindler's List]]''. To those who [[Holocaust denial|denied the Holocaust]], Wilder wrote in a German newspaper, "If the concentration camps and the gas chambers were all imaginary, then please tell me—where is my mother?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=Anthony |title=Nobody's Perfect |year=2002 |pages=717}}</ref>

==Directorial style==
Wilder's directorial choices reflected his belief in the primacy of writing. He avoided, especially in the second half of his career, the exuberant cinematography of [[Alfred Hitchcock]] and [[Orson Welles]] because, in Wilder's opinion, shots that called attention to themselves would distract the audience from the story. Wilder's films have tight plotting and memorable dialogue. Despite his conservative directorial style, his subject matter often pushed the boundaries of mainstream entertainment. Once a subject was chosen, he would begin to visualize in terms of specific artists. His belief was that no matter how talented the actor, none were without limitations and the result would be better if you bent the script to their personality rather than force a performance beyond their limitations.<ref>"One Head Is Better than Two," in [[Films and Filming]] (London), February 1957.</ref> Wilder was skilled at working with actors, coaxing [[silent film|silent era]] legends [[Gloria Swanson]] and [[Erich von Stroheim]] out of retirement for roles in ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]''. Regarding Wilder's more comedic films, [[Roger Ebert]] wrote: "he took the characters seriously, or at least as seriously as the material allowed, and got a lot of the laughs by playing scenes straight."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/trial-and-error-1997 | title=Trial and Error movie review & film summary (1997) &#124; Roger Ebert }}</ref>

For ''[[Stalag 17]]'', Wilder squeezed an Oscar-winning performance out of a reluctant [[William Holden]] (Holden had wanted to make his character more likable; Wilder refused). At a casting meeting, Wilder reportedly said, "I'm tired of clichéd typecasting—the same people in every film."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Philips |first=Gene D. |title=Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8131-2570-1 |pages=251 |language=English}}</ref> An example of this is Wilder's casting of [[Fred MacMurray]] in ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' and ''[[The Apartment]]''. MacMurray had become Hollywood's highest-paid actor portraying a decent, thoughtful character in light comedies, melodramas, and musicals; Wilder cast him as a womanizing schemer. [[Humphrey Bogart]] shed his tough-guy image to give one of his warmest performances in ''[[Sabrina (1954 film)|Sabrina]]''. [[James Cagney]], not usually known for comedy, was memorable in a high-octane comic role for Wilder's ''[[One, Two, Three]]''. Wilder coaxed a very effective performance out of Monroe in ''[[Some Like It Hot]]''.

In total, he directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: [[Barbara Stanwyck]] in ''Double Indemnity'', [[Ray Milland]] in ''[[The Lost Weekend (film)|The Lost Weekend]]'', William Holden in ''Sunset Boulevard'' and ''Stalag 17'', Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim and [[Nancy Olson]] in ''Sunset Boulevard'', [[Robert Strauss (actor)|Robert Strauss]] in ''Stalag 17'', [[Audrey Hepburn]] in ''Sabrina'', [[Charles Laughton]] in ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film)|Witness for the Prosecution]]'', [[Elsa Lanchester]] in ''Witness for the Prosecution'', [[Jack Lemmon]] in ''Some Like It Hot'' and ''The Apartment'', [[Jack Kruschen]] in ''The Apartment'', [[Shirley MacLaine]] in ''The Apartment'' and ''[[Irma la Douce]]'' and [[Walter Matthau]] in ''[[The Fortune Cookie]]''. Wilder mentored Lemmon, and was the first director to pair him and Matthau in ''The Fortune Cookie''. Wilder and Lemmon worked on seven films.<ref>Philips (2010), [https://books.google.es/books?redir_esc=y&hl=es&id=5uohNoRFkwIC&q=lemmon+seven#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 230].</ref>

==Politics==
Wilder opposed the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC). He co-created the [[Committee for the First Amendment]], of 500 Hollywood personalities and stars to "support those professionals called upon to testify before the HUAC who had classified themselves as hostile with regard to the interrogations and the interrogators". Some anti-Communists wanted those in the cinema industry to take oaths of allegiance. The [[Screen Directors Guild]] had a vote by show of hands. Only [[John Huston]] and Wilder opposed. Huston said, "I am sure it was one of the bravest things that Billy, as a naturalized German, had ever done. There were 150 to 200 directors at this meeting, and here Billy and I sat alone with our hands raised in protest against the loyalty oath."<ref name =Lopez>José-Vidal Pelaz López. [https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/communication-and-society/article/view/36178/30707 Filming History: Billy Wilder and the Cold War]. ''Communication & Society'', 25(1), pp. 113–136. (2012).</ref>

Wilder was not affected by the Hollywood blacklist. Of the blacklisted '[[Hollywood Ten]]' he said, "Of the ten, two had talent, and the rest were just unfriendly."<ref name =Lopez/> In general, Wilder disliked formula and genre films.<ref>Morris Dickstein (Spring 1988). "Sunset Boulevard" ''Grand Street'' Vol. 7 No. 3 p. 180</ref> Wilder reveled in poking fun at those who took politics too seriously. In ''[[Ball of Fire]]'', his [[American burlesque|burlesque]] queen 'Sugarpuss' points at her sore throat and complains "Pink? It's as red as the ''[[Daily Worker]]'' and just as sore." Later, she gives the overbearing and unsmiling housemaid the name "[[Francisco Franco|Franco]]".

==Retirement==
[[File:BW1989 crop.jpg|thumb|Wilder in 1989]]
Wilder received the [[American Film Institute]] (AFI) [[AFI Life Achievement Award|Life Achievement Award]] in 1986. He received the [[Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award]] in 1988, the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] in 1990 and the [[National Medal of Arts]] in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html |title=Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts |access-date=January 30, 2010 |archive-date=August 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826194408/http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html |url-status=bot: unknown }} [[National Endowment for the Arts]]</ref> He has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]]. Wilder became well known for owning one of the finest and most extensive art collections in Hollywood, mainly collecting modern art. As he described it in the mid-80s, "It's a sickness. I don't know how to stop myself. Call it [[bulimia]] if you want – or curiosity or passion. I have some [[Impressionists]], some [[Picasso]]s from every period, some mobiles by [[Alexander Calder|Calder]]. I also collect tiny Japanese trees, glass paperweights, and Chinese vases. Name an object and I collect it."<ref>Ed Sikov. ''On Sunset Boulevard – the Life and Times of Billy Wilder''  "Turnaround", p. 582.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/30/arts/billy-wilder-decides-to-sell-some-of-his-art-collection.html|title=Billy Wilder Decides to Sell Some of His Art Collection|first=Andrew L.|last=Yarrow|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 30, 1989}}</ref> Wilder's artistic ambitions led him to create a series of works of his own. By the early '90s, Wilder had amassed many plastic-artistic constructions, many of which were made in collaboration with artist Bruce Houston. In 1993, art dealer [[Louis Stern]], a longtime friend, helped organize an exhibition of Wilder's work at his Beverly Hills gallery. The exhibition was titled ''Billy Wilder's Marché aux Puces'' and the ''Variations on the Theme of [[Nefertiti|Queen Nefertete]]'' segment was notably popular. This series featured busts of the Egyptian queen wrapped ''à la'' [[Christo]], or splattered ''à la'' [[Jackson Pollock]], or sporting a Campbell's soup can in homage to [[Andy Warhol]].<ref>Charlotte Chandler. ''Nobody's Perfect: Billy Wilder – A Personal Biography''. "Nefertete", p. 317.</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Wilder married Judith Coppicus on December 22, 1936. The couple had twins, Victoria and Vincent (born 1939), but Vincent died shortly after birth. They divorced in 1946. Wilder met [[Audrey Young (actress)|Audrey Young]] while filming ''The Lost Weekend''. They were married on June 30, 1949.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/audrey-young-dies-billy-wilder-widow-334813|title=Audrey Young Dies; Actress and Widow of Billy Wilder|last=Pedersen|first=Erik|date=June 7, 2012|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en|access-date=May 25, 2019}}</ref>

Wilder died of [[pneumonia]] on March 27, 2002. He was buried at [[Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Oscar Firsts and other Trivia|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/statistics/Gen-Trivia.pdf|work=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|date=February 2015|access-date=May 2, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225235219/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/statistics/Gen-Trivia.pdf|archive-date=February 25, 2015}}</ref> A French newspaper, ''[[Le Monde]]'', titled the front-page obituary: "Billy Wilder is dead. Nobody is perfect", a reference to the last line of ''Some Like It Hot''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.minnpost.com/listing-slightly/2010/03/comedy-drama-film-noir-film-director-billy-wilder-was-americas-best/|title=From comedy to drama to film noir, film director Billy Wilder was America's best|date=March 19, 2010|website=MinnPost}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[Image:Billy Wilders grave (978339409).jpg|thumb|Wilder's grave in [[Westwood Village Memorial Park]]]]

<blockquote>"Don't be boring". — Billy Wilder<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5503804 Billy Wilder Tribute] at [[National Public Radio|NPR]]</ref></blockquote>

Wilder holds a significant place in the history of Hollywood censorship for expanding the range of acceptable subject matter. He directed two of [[film noir]]'s definitive films, ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' and ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]''. Along with [[Woody Allen]] and the [[Marx Brothers]], he leads the list of films on the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs]] and he earned the top spot on it with ''[[Some Like It Hot]]''. Also on the list are ''[[The Apartment]]'' and ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]'', which he directed, and ''[[Ball of Fire]]'' and ''[[Ninotchka]]'', which he co-wrote. The AFI listed ''Double Indemnity'', ''Sunset Boulevard'', ''Some Like It Hot'' and ''The Apartment'' on [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies-10th-anniversary-edition/|publisher=American Film Institute|access-date=April 19, 2020|title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition}}</ref> Wilder was ranked 6th in director's poll on [[Sight & Sound]]'s 2002 list of ''The Greatest Directors of All Time''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/directors-directors.html|title=BFI &#124; Sight & Sound &#124; Top Ten Poll 2002 – The Directors' Top Ten Directors|date=October 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013231353/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/directors-directors.html|archive-date=October 13, 2018}}</ref> In 1996, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' ranked Wilder at No. 24 in its "50 Greatest Directors" list.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=Greatest Film Directors and Their Best Films |publisher=[[Filmsite.org]]|url=http://www.filmsite.org/directors5.html |access-date=April 19, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419012748/http://www.filmsite.org/directors6.html|archive-date=April 19, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Greatest Film Directors|url=https://www.filmsite.org/directors.html|website=filmsite.org}}</ref> Wilder was ranked at No. 19 on [[Empire (film magazine)|''Empire'']]'s "Top 40 Greatest Directors of All-Time" list in 2005.<ref name="auto"/> In 2007, ''[[Total Film]]'' magazine ranked Wilder at No. 13 on its "100 Greatest Film Directors Ever" list.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Greatest Directors Ever by ''Total Film'' Magazine|publisher=[[Filmsite.org]]|url=http://www.filmsite.org/greatdirectors-totalfilm2.html |access-date=April 19, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702113557/http://www.filmsite.org/greatdirectors-totalfilm.html|archive-date=July 2, 2014}}</ref> Wilder was voted at No. 4 on the "Greatest Directors of 20th Century" poll conducted by Japanese film magazine ''[[Kinema Junpo]]''.

Seven of his films are preserved in the United States [[National Film Registry]] of the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".<ref name=LOC>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|publisher=[[National Film Registry]]|access-date=January 21, 2020|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing}}</ref> [[Anthony Lane]] writes that ''Double Indemnity'', ''The Seven Year Itch'', ''Sunset Boulevard'' and ''The Apartment'' are "part of the lexicon of moviegoing" and that ''Some Like It Hot'' is a "national treasure."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=Anthony |title=Nobody's Perfect |year=2002 |pages=712–713}}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] asked, "Of all the great directors of Hollywood's golden age, has anybody made more films that are as fresh and entertaining to this day as Billy Wilder's?...And who else can field three contenders among the greatest closing lines of all time?", citing the closing lines of ''Sunset Boulevard'', ''Some Like it Hot'', and ''The Apartment''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebert|first=Roger|title=The Great Movies|publisher=2002|pages=440}}</ref> [[Ron Shelton]] recalls encountering Wilder:

<blockquote> I was in a restaurant about six months after ''[[Bull Durham]]'' came out. And a man came over and said "Somebody would like to see you." And I looked over and it was Billy Wilder. And I went over and he said, "Great fuckin' picture, kid!" And I thought that was as good a review as you could have."<ref>{{cite web| title=Ron Shelton's Closet Picks| url=https://www.criterion.com/shop/collection/511-ron-sheltons-closet-picks}}</ref></blockquote>

When ''[[Belle Époque (film)|Belle Époque]]'' won the 1993 [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for Best Foreign Language Film, Spanish filmmaker [[Fernando Trueba]] said in his acceptance speech: "I would like to believe in God in order to thank him. But I just believe in Billy Wilder... so thank you, Mr. Wilder." According to Trueba, Wilder called him the day after and told him: "Fernando, it's God." French filmmaker [[Michel Hazanavicius]] thanked Billy Wilder in the 2012 Best Picture [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] acceptance speech for [[The Artist (film)|''The Artist'']]: "I would like to thank the following three people, I would like to thank Billy Wilder, I would like to thank Billy Wilder, and I would like to thank Billy Wilder." Wilder's 12 [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nominations for screenwriting were a record until 1997 when Woody Allen received a 13th nomination for ''[[Deconstructing Harry]]''. In 2017, [[New York (magazine)|Vulture.com]] named Wilder the greatest screenwriter of all time.<ref>{{cite web|title=The 100 Best Screenwriters of All Time|url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/10/100-greatest-screenwriters-of-all-time-ranked.html|website=vulture.com|date=October 27, 2017}}</ref> He directed fourteen actors in Oscar-nominated performances. Wilder's epitaph, a paraphrase of the last line of ''Some Like It Hot'', is "I'm a writer but then nobody's perfect."<ref>{{Cite news| last=Lensing|first=Leo A.| date=May 14, 2021| title=Some like it fraught| work=[[Times Literary Supplement]]| url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/billy-wilder-on-assignment-noah-isenberg-review-leo-a-lensing/}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{main|Billy Wilder filmography}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Directed features
! Year
! Title
! Distributor
|-
| 1934
| ''[[Mauvaise Graine]]''
| Pathé Consortium Cinéma
|-
| 1942
| ''[[The Major and the Minor]]''
|rowspan=10|[[Paramount Pictures]]
|-
| 1943
| ''[[Five Graves to Cairo]]''
|-
| 1944
| ''[[Double Indemnity]]''
|-
| 1945
| ''[[The Lost Weekend]]''
|-
|rowspan=2|1948
| ''[[The Emperor Waltz]]''
|-
| ''[[A Foreign Affair]]''
|-
| 1950
| ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]''
|-
| 1951
| ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]''
|-
| 1953
| ''[[Stalag 17]]''
|-
| 1954
| ''[[Sabrina (1954 film)|Sabrina]]''
|-
| 1955
| ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]''
| [[20th Century Studios|20th Century Fox]]
|-
|rowspan=3|1957
| ''[[The Spirit of St. Louis (film)|The Spirit of St. Louis]]''
| [[Warner Bros.]]
|-
| ''[[Love in the Afternoon (1957 film)|Love in the Afternoon]]''
| [[Monogram Pictures|Allied Artists Pictures Corporation]]
|-
| ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film)|Witness for the Prosecution]]''
|rowspan=5|[[United Artists]]
|-
| 1959
| ''[[Some Like It Hot]]''
|-
| 1960
| ''[[The Apartment]]''
|-
| 1961
| ''[[One, Two, Three]]''
|-
| 1963
| ''[[Irma la Douce]]''
|-
| 1964
| ''[[Kiss Me, Stupid]]''
| [[Ilya Lopert|Lopert Pictures Corporation]] / United Artists
|-
| 1966
| ''[[The Fortune Cookie]]''
|rowspan=3|United Artists
|-
| 1970
| ''[[The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes]]''
|-
| 1972
| ''[[Avanti!]]''
|-
| 1974
| ''[[The Front Page (1974 film)|The Front Page]]''
| [[Universal Pictures]]
|-
| 1978
| ''[[Fedora (1978 film)|Fedora]]''
| United Artists
|-
| 1981
| ''[[Buddy Buddy]]''
| United Artists / [[Cinema International Corporation]]
|}

==Awards and honors==
{{main|List of awards and nominations received by Billy Wilder}}
Wilder received twenty-one nominations at the [[Academy Awards]], winning six. In total, he received twelve nominations for his screenwriting, eight for his direction, and one for producing. He won both the [[Academy Award for Best Director]] and the [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay]] for both ''[[The Lost Weekend (film)|The Lost Weekend]]'' (1945) and ''[[The Apartment]]'' (1960). The former was awarded the [[Palme d'Or|Grand Prix du Festival International du Film]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]], and the latter also won him the [[BAFTA Award for Best Film]]. Wilder garnered eight [[Directors Guild of America Award]] nominations, with the sole win for his work on ''The Apartment''. He received seven nominations at the [[Golden Globe Awards]], winning [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director]] for ''The Lost Weekend'' and ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'' (1950). He won seven [[Writers Guild of America Awards]] including two [[Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement|Laurel Awards for Screenwriting Achievement]]. He garnered a number of lifetime achievement awards including the [[Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award]], the [[BAFTA Fellowship]], the [[David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures]], and the Honorary Golden Bear from the [[Berlin International Film Festival]].

== See also ==
* [[List of film director and actor collaborations]]
* [[List of refugees]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|40em}}
*{{cite book |last1=Armstrong |first1=Richard |author1-link=Richard Armstrong (author) |title=Billy Wilder, American Film Realist |date=2000 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0653-8 |language=en}}
* Auiler, Dan. ''Some Like it Hot'' ([[Taschen]], 2001)
*{{cite book |last1=Aurich |first1=Rolf <!-- Rolf Aurich & Andreas Hutter & Wolfgang Jacobsen & Günter Krenn (Herausgeber) --> |title='Billie': Billy Wilders Wiener journalistische Arbeiten |date=2006 |publisher=Verlag Filmarchiv Austria |isbn=978-3-901932-90-8 |language=de}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brackett |first1=Charles |author1-link=Charles Brackett |editor1-last=Slide |editor1-first=Anthony |editor1-link=Anthony Slide |title="It's the Pictures That Got Small": Charles Brackett on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age |date=December 16, 2014 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=9780231167086 |url=https://academic.oup.com/columbia-scholarship-online/book/13150 |jstor=10.7312/slid16708 |doi=10.7312/slid16708 |language=en}}
* [[Charlotte Chandler|Chandler, Charlotte]], ''Nobody's Perfect. Billy Wilder. A Personal Biography'' (New York: Schuster & Schuster, 2002)
* [[Cameron Crowe|Crowe, Cameron]], ''Conversations with Wilder'' (New York: Knopf, 2001)
* {{cite book |last1=Dick |first1=Bernard F. |title=Billy Wilder |date=August 21, 1996 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-80729-9 |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Gemünden |first1=Gerd |title=A Foreign Affair: Billy Wilder's American Films |date=2008 |publisher=[[Berghahn Books]] |isbn=978-1-84545-418-0 |pages=167–169 |edition=1 |doi=10.3167/9781845454180 |doi-access=free |url=https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/GemuendenForeign |jstor=j.ctt9qcq5c |jstor-access=free <!-- |access-date=12 February 2023 --> <!-- |quote=Made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license with support from Knowledge Unlatched -->}}{{open access}}
* Guilbert, Georges-Claude, ''Literary Readings of Billy Wilder'' (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007)
* Gyurko, Lanin A. ''The Shattered Screen. Myth and Demythification in the Art of Carlos Fuentes and Billy Wilder'' (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2009)
* Hantke, Steffen. "Wïlder's Dietrich: 'Witness for the Prosecution' in the Context of the Cold War." ''German Studies Review'' (2011): 247–260. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41303729 online]
*{{cite book |last1=Henry |first1=Nora |title=Ethics and Social Criticism in the Hollywood Films of Erich Von Stroheim, Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder |date=1997 |publisher=University of Southern California |isbn=9780275964504 |language=en}}
* Hermsdorf, Danie. ''Billy Wilder. Filme – Motive – Kontroverses'' (Bochum: Paragon-Verlag, 2006)
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Hesling |editor1-first=Willem |title=Billy Wilder: tussen Weimar en Hollywood |date=1991 |publisher=Garant |isbn=978-90-5350-044-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A67zqMdanVMC |language=nl}}
* Hopp, Glenn., ''Billy Wilder'' (Pocket Essentials: 2001)
* Hopp, Glenn, and Paul Duncan. ''Billy Wilder'' (Köln / New York: Taschen, 2003)
* [[Robert Horton (actor)|Horton, Robert]], ''Billy Wilder Interviews'' (University Press of Mississippi, 2001)
* [[Andreas Hutter|Hutter, Andreas]] / Kamolz, Klaus, ''Billie Wilder. Eine europäische Karriere'' (Vienna, Cologne, Weimar: Boehlau, 1998)
* [[Jérôme Jacobs|Jacobs, Jérôme]], ''Billy Wilder'' (Paris: Rivages Cinéma, 2006)
*{{cite book |last1=Karasek |first1=Hellmuth |author1-link=Hellmuth Karasek |title=Billy Wilder: eine Nahaufnahme |date=1994 |publisher=Heyne |isbn=978-3-453-07201-5 |language=de}}
* Lally, Kevin.  ''Wilder Times: The Life of Billy Wilder'' (Henry Holt & Co: 1st ed edition, May 1996)
* [[Gene D. Phillips|Phillips, Gene D.]], ''Some Like It Wilder'' (The University Press of Kentucky: 2010) [https://books.google.com/books?id=5uohNoRFkwIC&dq=Billy+Wilder&pg=PP1 online]
* [[Ed Sikov|Sikov, Ed]], '' On Sunset Boulevard. The Life and Times of Billy Wilder'' (New York: Hyperion, 1999) [https://books.google.com/books?id=jXwrDwAAQBAJ&dq=Billy+Wilder&pg=PP1 online]
* Sinyard, Neil, & Adrian Turner, "Journey Down Sunset Boulevard" (BCW, Isle of Wight, UK, 1979)
* Staggs, Sam. ''Close-up on Sunset Boulevard: Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream'' (Macmillan, 2002).
* {{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Tom |title=The Bright Side of Billy Wilder, Primarily |date=1969 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |location=New York |language=en}}
* [[Maurice Zolotow|Zolotow, Maurice]], ''Billy Wilder in Hollywood'' (Pompton Plains: Limelight Editions, 2004)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150526100651/http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1432/the-art-of-screenwriting-no-1-billy-wilder Billy Wilder, The Art of Screenwriting No. 1; Interviewed by James Linville] [[Paris Review]] 1996
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150311003413/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/wilderbib.html Billy Wilder: A Bibliography of Materials] (via [[UC Berkeley]] Library)
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Billy Wilder}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb name|0000697}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{Tcmdb name}}
* [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/wilder_b.html Billy Wilder] at [[American Masters]]
* [https://www.mediathek.at/nc/type/8000/searchQuery/979/hash/2DdPNKhT// Billy Wilder] at [[Österreichische Mediathek]] archive (in German)
* [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Billy-Wilder Billy Wilder] at ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Encyclopedia Britannica]]''
* [https://www.allmovie.com/artist/billy-wilder-vn15301036 Billy Wilder] at [[AllMovie]], [[RhythmOne|All Media Network]]
* [https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/22099 ''Billy Wilder''], at ''[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]'', [[American Film Institute]]
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120825012041/http://www.tv.com/people/billy-wilder Billy Wilder]'', su ''[[TV.com]]'', [[Red Ventures]] (archived the 1º January 2012)

{{Billy Wilder}}
{{Navboxes
|title = [[List of awards and nominations received by Billy Wilder|Awards for Billy Wilder]]
|list =
{{Academy Award Best Picture Producers}}
{{Academy Award for Best Director}}
{{Academy Award Best Original Screenplay}}
{{Academy Award Best Adapted Screenplay}}
{{AFI Life Achievement Award}}
{{BAFTA Best Film recipients}}
{{BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award}}
{{David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures}}
{{Directors Guild of America Award Feature Film}}
{{DirectorsGuildofAmericaAwardLifetimeFilm}}
{{European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{Lincoln Center Gala Tribute}}
{{Golden Globe Award for Best Director}}
{{Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement}}
{{Honorary Golden Bear}}
{{Thalberg Award}}
{{Kennedy Center Honorees 1990s}}
{{Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement}}
{{National Medal of Arts recipients 1990s}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilder, Billy}}
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